SF 95 
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IfUfial Mill M Mm\ Dipstioi, 



A TEXT BOOK FOB ALL WHO FEED CONDENSED FOOD, 



By LINUS W. MILLER, 

A>i//inr of Xotes Of an Exile, Design of Creation. 



I'iil.li>li.',l l,v mmr'st of the AMERICAN DAIRYMEN'S ASSO- 

('IA'I'l(i> - ■. w li!piii ll \\a> 'iciM <-ii-il M.iM li ' ' . ■. 

PRICE THIRTY-FIVE CENTS. 



Address L. W. MILLER, Stooktos, Nfew York, or M. L. MILLER, 



I ... 1 \ 



YollK. 



/// ' '(((/ diacounis made to the Traile. 



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■,■:«::- 

!'■}'.. 







Meal Mill M imal Diiestlon, 

AN ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BEFORE THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE CRAWFORD 

COUNTY DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION, AT MEADVILLE, Pa., 

JANUARY, 1875. 

ALSO 

Befobe the Tenth Annual Convention op the American Dairymen's 
Association, at Utica, New York, January 14, (which Convention, 
BY resolution, requested the author to publish it in pamphlet 

jt FORM). 

f 



ITH AN ADDENDUM, GIVING INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE P R ACTICAL 
APPLICATION OP THE PRINCIPLES ELUCIDATED. 



Containing also tables of equivalents, and analyses of coarse 
and fine food, by the nndst reliable authorities. 

A Text Book for all who feed Condensed Food. 

By LINUS W. MILLER. 

'f 

(Author of Notes of an Exile, on Canada, England, and Van Dieman's 
Land, Design of Creation, etc.) 

BE PROFUNDIS. 
Stockton, New York, January 5, 1875. C/ q~ 



Entered according to Act of Congress, A.D. 1875, by LINUS W. MILLEB, in 
the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

^1\ 









PREFACE 



Perfection, in a work of Ithis nature, should not be 
expected. The adoption of a new practice, so utterly at 
variance with established usage, not for centuries only, 
but the whole history of our race, in feeding the order 
of animals classed as ruminantia, concentrated food 
alone, involves very many grave considerations, which 
require the test of longer experience, and more extended 
and rigid observation and investigation, than the author 
can lay claim to. Forty-two months, at detached inter- 
vals, is the extent of that experience : and even while 
thus engaged, the thought of writing a treatise for the 
guidance and instruction of others never found a place 
in his imagination. He knew, after his first experiment 
in meal feeding, that old theories were false ; but the 
extent of his ambition has been, to discover by close 
investigation and study, the true theory of digestion, 
and its application to condensed food. Time alone will 
determine whether condensed food, fed for consecutive 
winters, is safe and advantageous to practice. The 
author's mind is clear, that so far as his tests extend, 
they are demonstrations. "Out of the depths" has 
grown the solid rock, and on it he humbly stands, in 
these hastily written pages, and points to Facts, to which 
all theories must conform, as his justification for offering 
so imperfect a treatise, upon a subject of such vast im- 
portance, to an intelligent Public. 



INTRODUCTION 



it^ 



Millions of dollars are undoubtedly wasted every year, 
both in this couatry and Europe, by injudicious feeding 
of concentrated food to our domestic animals. This as- 
sertion may perhaps be deemed extravagant, by the ad- 
vocates of the old theories ; but time alone is needed to 
demonstrate its truth. 

A better understanding of the digestive powers and 
capacities of our ruminating stock, and the adaptation 
of certain kinds of food to produce certain results, 
alone is needed to work a revolution in our whole man- 
agement of feeding, not dairy-stock alone for a few 
winter weeks, as some have supposed, but in the use of 
fine food at all times and under all circumstances. Every 
man who feeds for the production of beef, keeps a dairy 
or a single cow, in town, city or country, should under- 
stand the general principles of animal digestion, as he 
is liable to throw away his money without knowing it. 

He who attentively studies the principles of this un- 
pretending work, wiU need no apology from the author 
for the importance which he attaches to it ; and he who, 
from whatever cause, chooses to follow the old beaten 
track of his fathers, as it is his undoubted right to do, 
has no business to exact any. Ridicule and abuse, with- 
out stint, have not been withheld hitherto ; but Truth has 
nothing to fear ; if put down to-day, there will be a res- 
urrection to-morrow. Right will triumph in the end 
over all opposition. The intense interest manifested 



both at Meadville and Utica upon this subject of meal 
feeding, where large numbers of earnest practical men 
from5 various sections were congregated, and their ac- 
quiescence in the general principles laid down in the 
Address, is a guaranty of the ripeness of the public 
mind for the reception of truth, no matter what may 
become of fold theories. " This would have saved 
me one thousand dollars last winter, had I known and 
practised it," was said to the author by three dif- 
ferent persons after the reading of the Address ; while 
scores named smaller sums, ranging from one hundred 
dollars upwards, as the measure of benefit which it 
would have conferred upon them. When, in addition to 
the exigencies of short hay crops, we take into con- 
sideration the daily waste of meal and other fine food, 
at all seasons of every year, in the production of milk 
and beef, the magnitude of the interest involved in the 
aggregate is astounding ! Certainly, it is high time that 
this question is better understood. Personal consider- 
ations are of little moment, when such general interests 
are weighed in the balance ; but the author claims the 
right to say, in this connection, that if in error as re-, j 
gards the application of any of the principles laid down*! 
m this little work, no one can mourn so deeply as him- 
self. The world is fuU enough of error and false theories 
already ; and his chief ambition is to bear some humble 
part in their correction. 

The criticisms and strictures which have appeared in 
the agricultural and secular press of the country during 
the past season with reference to "feeding meal alone" 
if collated would comprise quite a volume ; and would 
be chiefly interesting as showing the want of correct 
knowledge as to the real principles involved, and the 
absurdities of the old theory as based upon bulk and 
woody fibre. From a mass of strictures, in some of which ■ 



threats of prosecution under tlie statute to prevent 
cruelty to animals is directly Mnted, two or tliree of the 
most moderate are herewith given as a matter of history. 

NEVER FEED MEAL ALONE. 

Fine meal, we know, is much more valuable than 
coarse meal, but farmers do not reach the true reason 
for the disturbance in the digestive system of the cow 
from feeding coarse meal. The scouring is caused by 
feeding the meal alone or unmixed with hay or other 
coarse food, which would carry it to the first stomach. 
When meal is fed alone it goes directly to the fourth or 
digesting stomach, and not having had the maceratmg 
process of the first stomach and re-mastication and 
mixed with saliva, it is not in a fit condition for the 
action of the fourth stomach, and will cause scouring, 
whether fine or coarse, although very fine meal will 
cause less disturbance than coarse, because the finer 
particles are more easily dissolved by the digesting fluid, 
and thus more readily assimilated ; but nature intended 
all the food of ruminating animals to have the macer- 
ating process of the whole series of stomachs. 

FEEDING MEAL TO COWS. 

Eds. Country Gentleman : 

In your last issue {March 19th) Eeadee, in his article 
on winter feed for cows, makes the foUowing assertion : 
Harris Lewis gravely informed thepeople of this country 
that "aU the meal they were feeding to cows was being 
thrown away." This may be a correct quotation from 
some one of the published reports, and it may be what I 
said. I would ask Eeader, however, if I did not say 
that I believed the dairymen of Chautauqua county were 
feeding corn meal at a loss, and that much of it was 
thrown away? I am ready to accept Reader's under- 



8 

standing of what I did say, and will not deny anything 
people charge me with. 

Header then goes on to state what the farmers are 
going to determine the relative value of different 
kinds of feed for wintering dairy co5vs. This is just 
the thing I have often urged dairymen to do, and I re- 
joice that any man has the independence to step out of 
the beaten track, as Mr. L. W. Miller has done in this 
matter. I also rejoice that Header has opened his eyes 
to some rays of light which have changed his opinions, 
similar to those of mine, which he used to 'hold in re- 
gard to the value of corn meal and corn fodder for cows. 
^ If Mr. Miller's experiments with corn meal do not put 
his profits for the coming season, and his cows, also, in 
about the same predicament that the dairymaid's chick- 
ens were in when counted so long before being hatched, 
I shall again rejoice. If Mr. Miller's corn meal diet 
proves just the food for dairy cows, it will settle one 
thing forever, viz., that the very best corn lands are 
above all others the lands for dairying, for we cannot on 
the best grass lands in the United States, north or south, 
east or west, keep dairy cows for six and a quarter cents 
per day, on grass or hay, or both, the year through. 
The cost of keeping a dairy cow at the west, on ten cent 
corn meal, would be so near nothing that it would be 
hardly worth naming. If I can keep a dairy cow well 
on corn meal, I will sell or give away my grass farm, 
and go west. 

Haeris Lewis. 

the meal theory. 

The meal theory of L. W. Miller of Stockton, by ai 
correspondent of Country Gentleman is hit off as follows r 
"I have known a cow to increase in milk by feeding a I 
moderate quantity of Indian meal at regular periods, ^ 



9 

in addition to other food. But when you talk of feeding 
a cow three pints of dry meal* in the morning,' and three 
pints at night, and no other fodder, "with very little" 
water, of .course there must be some screw loose in the 
statement. Why, there are some men who would use 
about as much food as that. The six pints would weigh 
about five pounds (the actual weight is about four 
pounds). Indian meal has about 66 per cent, of fat 
forming food and 11 per cent, of muscle forming sub- 
stance. Good hay has about 36 per cent, of the former, 
and 13 per cent, of the latter." Ten pounds of good 
hay would be more than equal to the six pints of 
meal. Yet who ever heard of keeping a good cow on 
ten pounds daily of hay ! — to say nothing of the " very 
little " water ! 

FEEDING MEAL. 

The Utica Herald notices the report of the experiment 
being made by Linus W. Miller of Stockton, on feeding 
meal alone, and accompanies the report with the follow- 
ing remarks : 

The feeding of finely ground corn meal to dairy cows 
is now being widely considered. Dairymen in this re- 
gion are now feeding more meal than ever before. The 
question to be determined is, whether this nutritive 
material is in a form unsuited to the full exercise of the 
digestive functions, and consequently, hkely to waste its 
nourishing quahties through imperfect digestion. That 
it is an unnatural food, that it slips untouched through 
part of the digestive machinery of the animal, is claimed 
by some of our most intelligent dairymen. On the other 
hand, there are many men who feed meal, and think 
they do so with profit and with good results to the 
animal. 

We are glad that Mr. Miller is making the experiment 



lO 



which is described above. We i^have little faith in his 
proving that meal is a perfect and sufficient food ; for if 
his cows maintain their bodies on meal alone, they will 
perform several creative acts, and creation is not vested 
in the animal economy. There are materials in the 
tissues of the body which do not exist in com meal. * 
They are not present in it in any shape nor form, con- 
sequently the transforming power of the animal cannot 
act, for it has no material to work over. Again, Mr. 
Miller is operating in the face of well established beliefs, 
that a single food is not suitable for maintaining* the 
health and strength of the animal for any great length 
of time. That Mr. Miller has so far proceeded in his 
war against nature, that he has succeeded in doing away 
with rumination in his herd, will startle those who be- 
lieve in the strict utility of natural processes. But 
though we are forced to sympathize with Mr. Miller's 
cows, we hope he will pursue his experiment to the end. 
"We have almost as little faith in his success as in any- 
thing we might mention. Feeding meal alone is very 
different from feeding meal together with more diffuse 
food. We believe that meal fed properly will do good 
service, imparting richness to the product and fullness to 
the form, but a food which leads the cow to forget the 
cunning of her natural machinery, must seem at the out- 
set to be prejudicial to health and profitable increase. 
Nevertheless we shall watch Mr. Miller's progress with 
much interest and attention. 

MEAL ONLY TOR COWS. 

Eds. Country Gentleman: 

I observe that the statement of Mr. L. W. Miller 
relative to the keeping cows on meal alone, is attracting 



* What are they ?— Author. 



II 

some attention, and deservedly so. I cannot help re- 
gretting that so preposterously absurd an idea, as that 
cattle can be maintained in health for months together, 
on nothing but a few quarts of corn meal a day, should 
be put forth as worthy of trial. The stomach of the 
bovine is intended by nature to receive a large mass of 
moderately nutritious food, and it is only when it is 
properly filled, that the animal can experience the sensa- 
tion of comfort so essential to health. If Mr. Miller 
will try the experiment on himself, being contented with 
three meals a day, each to consist of a single meat 
lozenge or a teaspoonful of concentrated beef tea, he 
will experience much the same sensations as his unfor- 
tunate cows. * I cannot, however, regard the statement 
as anything but a hoax. Any one accustomed to cattle 
knows, that the excessive use of meal invariably results 
in diarrhoea or dysentery, if long persisted in ; and that 
unless a proper proportion of coarse feed, such as hay, 
straw, or grass is used, the health of the animal is sure 
to give way. I think the statement in question will be 
accepted by none but " the marines." 



Xj. !B. Xj. 



Sherbrooke, p. Q., Canada. 



* Mr. Miller, along with about ninety;otlier political prisoners, for the 
offense of trying to give a responsible government to his friends in 
Canada, suffered the gnawings of hunger on a very empty stomach for 
years, in Van Dieman's Land, under British rule ; and he can teU 
L. B. L. a tale of horrible suffering, usurpation, and cruelty, that 
should make a savage blush for shame ! Mr. Miller has no taste for 
starving even dumb animals, much less his fellow men ; and if L. B. L. 
had ever suffered a httle of what those unfortunate prisoners endured, 
he would not wonder, nor take any exceptions, to the severity of 
this note. 



MEAL FEEDING AND ANIMAL 
DMESTION. 



Gentlemen of the American Daibymen's Association : 

I shall coiafine my remarks mostly to feeding Indian 
meal to dairy stock, when dry, and to their digestion of 
coarse andTfine food. Certain practices [of my own in 
wintering my cows, having attracted much attention and 
not a little criticism, I suppose you will expect me to ex- 
plain those practices. Sixteen years ago, happening[to 
mention to a gentleman of my acquaintance that^I was 
short of hay for wintering pay stock.^he informed me that 
he had wintered his cow upon three pints of scalded meal, 
keeping in stall all winter, and watering by hand, and he 
assured me she came through in good condition, and 
yielded a fair product of milk that[season. Seizing upon 
this hint of my friend I ventured to place my herd of 
twenty cows, having first dried[them off, upon an exclu- 
sive meal diet, feeding an average of three pints, dry, 
morning and evening, giving the large cows a little more, 
and the small ones a little less ; keeping them in warm, 
clean, properly ventilated stables, and only turning them 
out one-half hour each day for water. They were uneasy 
the first three or four days of meal diet ; but after that 
had the appearance of unusual quiet and content. I am 
confident their rations were ample to satisfy the wants of 
nature, and that they did not lose flesh. The experiment 
would have been more valuable if they could have been 
weighed at the commencement and end of meal feeding. 



H 

In the spring, when they began to drop their calves, I 
fed them all the hay they would eat in the morning and 
two quarts of meal at night. But they showed a decided 
preference for meal over hay. The calves dropped were 
of the usual size, strong and healthy and gave no indica- 
tion of a deficiency of proper and essential elements in 
the food of the mother. When upon exclusive meal diet 
— a period of nine weeks that season — rumination ceased 
when they had no longer any food to remasticate. Occa- 
sionally one would refuse her meal. It was my custom 
to administer a tablespoonf ul of dissolved coperas on such 
occasions, and a restoration of appetite followed. When 
the weather was very stormy they were kept in and sup- 
phed with water by hand. The amount of water drank 
at such times was surprisingly small, varying from one 
quart, in rare cases, to eight or ten per cow each day. I 
think they would not average to exceed five quarts. 
Although accustomed to eating a daily ration of salt dur- 
ing the summer, they showed but little inclination to eat 
it on meal. But when again fed upon hay they at once 
resumed consuming the usual quantities of water and 
salt. I made more than the usual quantity of spring but- 
ter that season, and when turned out to grass, my cows 
did better than I had ever known them before, when win- 
tered in the usual way. 

After this experience, whenever short of hay, I resorted 
to meal, feeding in as many winters, five, seven and eight 
weeks and always with the most satisfactory results; 
my cows when turned, out to grass invariably doing bet- 
ter than when wintered on hay, both as to quality of 
milk and a tendency to lay on flesh. In the season of 
1873-4 my hay crop was unusually short, and what corn 
fodder I had was badly damaged by frost, feeding which, 
in early winter, my stock were in unusually poor flesh 
when I commenced feeding meal on the 1st of January. 

d 



i5 

The result of my experiment I condense from a com- 
munication over my signature, published in the Chautau- 
qua Farmer in August last. 

" The records of the factory where I send my milk, 
show an aggregate of 531 cows. There are three herds of 
cows giving as much, or more than my own the present 
season— one of them nearly two pounds more daily ; but 
the last sale of cheese of which I have a record, being the 
make of sixteen days, from June 10th to 26th, credits my 
herd with giving two pounds fifteen ounces each per diem 
more than the average of the whole 531. My herd 
was selected with reference to making butter, not cheese, 
and I have never regarded them as great milkers ; they 
averaged twenty-seven pounds per diem, for the sixteen 

days' sale. 

" In 1872-73, I wintered my herd upon hay. They 
came through in good condition, and were fed during 
the spring months, with two quarts of meal daily, and 
all the hay they would eat. In 1873-'74 I fed for nine 
weeks (while dry) three quarts of meal ; then what hay 
they would eat and two quarts of meal, for three weeks ; 
then bean vines and meal, for two weeks, losing one of 
my best cows in the operation of feeding bean vines, and 
setting the whole herd scouring badly and losing flesh. 
Then I did what I have never done before to cows giving 
milk. I fed during the rest of the spring before turning 
out to pasture, on clear meal, a period of about five weeks, 
giving five quarts of wet meal daily to those giving milk. 
Under this treatment they did well, and although the flow 
of milk was less than when fed on hay, its quality was ex- 
cellent, and the butter superior. The bean vine butter, 
however, was poor. 

I find, by the factory records, that my cows are giving 

■ five pounds of mHk each, per diem, more than they gave 

during the corresponding period last season, when win- 



i6 

tered on hay. But with this difference in their treat- 
ment. This season my hill pasture has been very short 
during the entire season thus far, although I am carry- 
ing four head of stock less than last year, and I have in 
consequence fed about three quarts of dry bran, per head, 
to my herd daily. I do not think, however, that this bran 
would make up the deficiency in pasture as compared 
with last season. 

I fed, last winter, white western meal instead of yellow 
native corn of my own growing, as heretofore. White 
Indian corn contains only a fraction of one per cent, of 
oil, while yellow contains nearly four per cent. There 
was a* marked difference in its effects from anything I 
have ever seen while feeding yellow meal. The hair first 
began to look and feel stiff and harsh, then the skin be- 
came dry, with the appearance of scurvy, after about six 
weeks feeding ; and finally some of the herd actually broke 
out with small blotches along the back and sides. I un- 
derstood perfectly well, that a small quantity of linseed 
oil cake, fed with the meal, would correct all this, and 
make white meal equal to yellow ; but the eyes of the 
whole country were upon me, predicting failure, ruin and 
starvation to my cows, and I chose to run the risk of con-Ai 
sequences, without any variation from what was adver-l' 
tised ; but I shall never feed white meal exclusively again, 
without adding to it something to supply the deficiency 
of oil. Hereafter I intend to winter my cows, when dry, 
upon meal, when I can get it, in preference to hay." 

At the close of the season, having fed no bran or extra 
feed since the 20th of August, I find, by factory returns, 
that my cows averaged a fraction less than 20 pounds 
per diem for the season of five months— May 19 to Octo- 
ber 19— being 1 pound 3 ounces each, per diem, more 
than the average of the 531 cows whose milk was 
sent to the factory, and an average of four and a 



17 

quarter pounds each per diem more than my cows gave 
for the corresponding season, the previous year, when 
wintered on hay. I had also two cases of abortion in 
my herd — the result of accidents — having but one the 
previous year. The conditions were more than ordi- 
narily unfavorable ; but the results were, to say the least, 
a demonstration of the adaptation of an exclusive meal 
diet to meet the wants of my animals under the condi- 
tions enumerated. Another result of meal feeding I find 
to be a tendency to lay on flesh more readily than when 
wintered in the usual manner. I am also satisfied that my 
herd hold their age better, and that their teeth last 
longer ; the reasons for which are apparent. What the 
effect would be if wintered continuously for consecutive 
years on condensed food I am not able to say, never 
having tested it. But looking to my own profit, as a 
dairyman, I propose hereafter to feed my cows when dry 
upon an exclusive meal diet, and also to feed more freely 
on this article during the spring months. My practice 
has been to make the change from hay to meal and vice 
versa suddenly without gradation, and thus far it has 
been with safety ; yet prudence might dictate a gradual 
change when returning to hay ; and also care in supply- 
ing the animal with the necessary quantity of water for 
moistening the coarse food. If cows could be watered in 
their stalls, whether fed on meal or hay, in cold weather, 
and their stables kept warm and clean, taking care 
to curry daily; at such times, there would be a great 
saving in food. I would not wish to be understood 
as laying down the rule that a daily ration of three 
quarts of meal is sufficient in all cases. Large cat- 
tle would require more, and small less. He who feeds 
meal exclusively should watch his animals closely, and 
variations be made in the quantity according to circum- 
stances. In very cold weather the animal requires more 



i8 

food, no matter what its nature may be, than in warm 
pleasant days. The practice of turning out animals in 
the cold and storms to become chilly, is neither humane 
nor economical. Eegularity in the hour of feeding is also 
of great importance, whatever the food. It is a law of 
animal life that the appetite conforms to habit, and that 
the digestion of food will be more perfect if taken at 
stated intervals. Where food of any kind is kept con- 
stantly within reach of an animal, it is tempted to eat more 
than nature requires, and much more than can be pro- 
perly digested. In feeding meal, whether alone or diluted 
with coarse food, it is absolutely imperative that it should 
be ground as fine as for family use ; and if from white 
corn, on an exclusive meal diet, a small quantity of oil 
meal or cotton seed meal should be mixed with it. 

As to the economy of meal feeding, much depends 
upon the respective prices of corn and hay. The pres- 
ent season corn is high, and hay can be had at a reason- 
able figure ; but when the conditions are reversed, the 
balance sheet, leaving out the question of increased pro- 
ducts, is decidedly in favor of meal. Our farming lands 
should average fifty bushels of corn to the acre, and our 
meadows two tons of hay in ordinary seasons. One 
bushel of corn should last an average sized cow twelve 
days, when dry. Fifty bushels should keep twenty cows 
thirty days, where the product of an acre in hay would 
barely suffice for ten days. The question of labor would 
vary the result, as well as the value of the manure. I do 
not claim the facts which I have related as a complete 
demonstration of the superiority of meal over hay for 
winter feeding of dairy stock. The known difference in 
the product of cows in different seasons, without any 
perceptible cause, renders all detached experiments to a 
certain extent unreliable. When, however, whole herds 
show an increased product, it is safe to attribute the 



19 

change to the causes specified. An experimental farm, 
like those so ably conducted in Germany, where careful 
experiments could be conducted for a series of years, test- 
ing the relative value of all kinds of food for the produc- 
tion of milk, and the accumulation of flesh and various 
other desiderata is much to be desired. Nevertheless 
some propositions have been proved, and some theories 
exploded, which were regarded as axioms only one year 
ago ; as that rumination is not essential to health in the 
ruminantia ; that it is only natural when made necessary 
from feeding coarse food ; that condensed food may be 
fed profitably, and in perfect harmony with nature's laws, 
without being diluted with coarse food ; that hulJc in food 
is not advantageous, but the contrary ; that nutriment 
in food, and not bulk, governs the condition and health 
of the animal ; and that condensation of nutriment, and 
not expansion, is true economy. 

Following in the track of this advanced step, are results 
of vast importance to the dairying interests of the world. 
The terror of short hay crops, and famine prices, are 
among the things of the past. By planting more corn, 
we can keep more cows on our farms ; and o^fcr brethren 
ia the great corn growing regions of the west, may con- 
fidently anticipate an increased demand, and enhanced 
price for their great staple product. A few remarks 
upon the digestion of ruminants, and I have done. 

Gentlemen, nature has made no mistakes. Her laws 
are the perfection of wisdom. Design is inscribed in 
characters of living light upon all her varied pages. The 
primitive rocks, not less than alluvial soUs, bear the stamp 
of royal laws, harmoniously working out the great prob- 
lem of existence. The lowest forms of vegetable and 
animal life are but links of the great chain, stretching 
from the Silurian periods down through interminable ages 
to the present day. Adaptation to surrounding circum- 



20 



stances, and to the exigencies of life, are clearly discerni- 
ble, in every phase and grade of the animal and vegeta- 
ble kingdoms. A creature of such vast importance to 
man as the ruminant, would be an exception in nature, 
placed, as she is, in latitudes where malignant and blight- 
ing frosts, and drouths, so frequently cut short vegeta- 
tion, if she was not fitted to Hve and thrive, in spite of 
such adverse surroundings. Her four stomachs are a 
wonderful adaptation to her wants and necessities under 
different conditions. In the calf, hving upon its mother's 
milk, we find no development of the stomachs used upon 
coarse food. This fact is important, as showing that con- 
centrated food is not unnatural to the ruminant ; com- 
plete digestion and assimilation certainly takes place ; 
proving that all the conditions of life are fulfilled in this 
order of animals, independent of the use and functions 
of the 1st, 2d and 3d stomachs. This completely refutes 
the doctrine, so prominently advocated, that meal is an 
unnatural food, because it does not, when fed, pass through 
all the stomachs of the ruminant. Pardon the digression, 
in remarking, in this connection, that calves should never 
be suddenl/Veaned, but the change from milk, or concen- 
trated food, to grass should be gradual; giving time for 
the gradual development of the necessary machinery for 
preparing grass, and other coarse food, for digestion and 
assimilation. 

In the full developed ruminant we find grass, hay and 
all coarse food, after slight mastication in the mouth, 
passing into the CBSophagean canal or passage, on the 
floor or bottom of which are two doors or openings, the 
first of which receives all coarse food, and as much water, 
when the animal drinks, as is required to moisten it. 
This opens into the first stomach or paunch, which is, so 
to speak, the animal's storehouse ; and which, when herb- 
age is abundant, she soon fills, and is prepared, or rather 



2] 

inclined, from its bulk and weight, to lie down and at 
leisure finish the work which the non ruminant is com- 
pelled to do as it eats. This storehouse has an opening 
into the reticulum or second stomach, and by muscular 
action forces, in small quantities, its contents into it, 
where, also by muscular force, it is formed into pellets 
or cuds, and forced through a valve which opens upward, 
(but never downward) into the cesophagean canal; where, 
by muscular action, it is forced back to the mouth. Here, 
at its leisure, the animal remasticates it until it becomes 
so softened and pulverized, that in the second act of 
swallowing, it passes the first opening, or door, where, in 
its coarser state, it forced its passage before ; passes the 
door of the second stomach, which is always closed to 
food in its downward passage, and enters near the ter- 
mination of the cesophagean canal, the door of the third 
stomach. Thus far the food has been only chewed and 
softened ; but here it is ground. Duplicatures, of the 
coatings of the stomach are here suspended from the 
oesophagus, which seize upon the food as it enters, and 
by muscular action, file and grind all the coarse parts so 
that nothing solid or fibrous escapes them. 

From the third it passes directly to the fourth stomach, 
where true digestion begins. The gastric juice here 
secreted has the power of converting it into a mass called 
chyme, from which it is changed to chyle. The action 
of 'the digestive juices and glands in converting it into 
milk, blood, and from blood into fat, flesh, bone, muscles, 
hair, etc., has as yet never been satisfactorily demon- 
strated. 

Modern investigations go to show, however, that only 
chemical changes take essential place in the food, or the 
elements composing it, but rather a mechanical change, 
disintegrating such substances or compounds as the ani- 
mal's wants require, leaving that which is worthless to be 



22 



1 



I, 

II 



expelled : and that not only ruminants but the whole ani- 
mal kingdom, are endowed by nature with organs, whose 
office it is to seize upon the elements required, generally, 
but not always, in solution in the form of chyle or blood, 
and with unerring certainty convey them to their desti 
nation. 

In other words we say nature is conservative of her 
forces ; and in the great chain of life, stretching from 
the lowest vegetable growth up to man, she appropriates, 
with the least possible change, the material of the lower 
to build up and perfect the higher. It is true that 
nature's laboratory is immense, and her power unlimited, 
but for that reason we must not charge her with being* 
wasteful. Even cellulose (excepting crude) is not de- 
stroyed, but passing through the process of digestion is 
found deposited in the frame of the eater just, or at least 
nearly, as it was before mastication in the article of food. 

Gentlemen, nature furnishes, in this respect, a pattern 
for man to follow. Let the dairyman do it and he will 
get rich. In considering the question of digestion, its 
proportions are of such magnitude as to forbid any 
attempt at even a cursory glance at its details in extenso, 
in this essay. I desire, however, for the purposes which 
I have in view, to call your attention to certain general 
principles involved in the subject of meal feeding, as an 
exclusive diet, under certain conditions, versus hay. In » 
pushing our inquiry in this direction, we are met at the ^ 
threshold with certain difficulties in the nature of the ' 
animal. For instance, the capacity of our cows to con- 
sume any given kind of food materially varies. Cows of 
equal weight wiU seldom eat an equal quantity of food. 
When they do its eifects vary and are far from uniform. 
When the cow gives milk, we find in those of equal 
weight and size an astonishing variation in both quality 
and quantity of milk product. One will give four gallons 



23 

milk per day, and the other but two gallons. The milk 
of one may be rich in oily matters, and the other may be 
rich in caseine. In other words, there is a marked 
difference in the proportion of its constituents. Make 
the milk into butter separately, and we find a difference 
in color, flavor, and perhaps texture, as well as quantity. 
If equal quantities of each cow's mOk from equal amounts 
of food were analyzed we should, perhaps, find the result 
from one as follows. I take, at random, an analysis of 
milk by J. Alfred Wanklyn ; 

IN 100 CUBIC CENTIMETRES. 



« 
cc 

t< 



Water, 88.43 grammes. 

Fat, 412 

Caseine, 5.16 

Milk Sugar, 4.43 

Ash, 0.76 

102.90 

From the other : . 

Water, . '. 90.09 grammes. 

Fat, 3.16 

Caseine, 4.16 

Milk Sugar, 4.76 

Ash, 0.73 



(C 

(( 
(t 

« 



102.90. 



Both being the product of the same food in quality 
and quantity, but from different cows, this conclusion is 
forced upon us. 

1st. As to difference in quantity of milk. The mam- 
mary glands of one must have double the capacity of 
secreting milk which are possessed by the other ; or the 
stomachs of the latter must be sadly out of repair and 
incapable of performing their normal functions. Upon 
the last supposition, an analysis of the excrements, solid 



24 

and liquid, would probably fix the responsibility where 
belongs. But we daily find greater discrepancies in the 
product of cows equally healthful ; and we are compelled 
to look for the cause in the secretive glands of the ani 
mal. But the amount of food being the same, we have 
right to look for the ingredients of two gallons of milk, 
stored away in the body of the defaulting animal, and 
shall not be disappointed, unless there is a want of capacity' 
in her secretive glands to appropriate them. That such 
is the real case, I think no intelligent dairy-man, who has 
given his attention to the subject, will deny. The differ- 
ence in condition of our good and poor milkers at the 
end of the season, will not account for the great deficiency 
of milk. At any rate we do not find its equivalent stored 
away in the form of fat or flesh. The poor milker is 
generally in the best store condition, but she ought to be 
much better than we are accustomed to find her. If we 
could analyze her excrements, we should probably find 
the missing constituents. 

2d. As to difference in quality; the same course of 
argument followed out, forces upon us the conviction, 
that there is a marked difference in the capacity of the 
lacteal glands in the two animals to secrete the same 
constituents. 

The difference in the fattening qualities of different 
animals of the same breed, as well as of different breeds, 
are additional facts pointing in the same direction, and 
forcing upon us this conclusion, viz : There is a limit to 
the capacity of each animal to appropriate the nutritive 
elements of its food. Hence, if food, we will say meal, is 
taken into the fourth stomach, in quantities larger than 
the various organs of digestion are capable of appropriat- 
ing its constituents, the surplus is crowded out with the 
excrements and are lost. An analysis of the manures, 
solid and Uquid, would determine the amount of waste, in 



25 

any given case. That meal, fed in large quantities at one 
time, is partially lost, except as manure, is evident ; and 
this accords with the experience of many dairymen who 
having thus wasted it, come to the hasty conclusion that 
meal is of little value for food, and that three quarts per 
diem would be wholly inadequate to supply the wants of 

an animal. 

The gentleman referred to in my opening remarks, as 
wintering his cow upon three pints scalded meal per day, 
wintered her the same season that I commenced this 
practice, upon three quarts ; and he informed me she 
never did better in her milk product than in the follow- 
ing season. Last winter he fed three quarts meal and a 
small bundle of cornstalks, daily, milking her all the 
winter, and getting a product equal to four quarts per 
diem, and he says she gained in condition all the time. 
Col. Potter, of Potters Corners, Crawford Co., Pa., in- 
formed me a short time since, that in fattening two beeves 
a few winters since, he began by feeding corn in the ear. 
Noticing whole kernels in the manure dropped, he turned 
a couple of small pigs into the stable, to get their living 
from the droppings of his beeves. He afterwards fed 
meal in large quantities, and the pigs appeared to thrive 
better than before ; but finding that his cattle did not 
gain very fast, he reduced the quantity of meal fed until 
the pigs began to squeal for want of food ; but, said he, 
" my beeves laid on flesh and fat much better than when 
fed in such liberal quantities." 

My own experience teaches me that if, in cows of or- 
dinary size, more than, say from three pints to two quarts 
is fed at one time, waste ensues. That if more is to be 
fed for the purpose of laying on flesh and fat, the feeding 
should be, if fed clear, once in six or eight hours, in such 
quantities as could be assimilated; that if fed im- 
mediately before or after the feeding of hay, in any con- 
2 



26 



siderable quantities, a loss ensues from the causes already 
considered, viz., a want of capacity in the animal to digest 
only a limited quantity in a given time. In other words, 
the hay being fed at the same time as the meal, or closely 
in connection with it, the animal after eating its hay, 
commences remastication; and the meal having at once 
passed into the fourth, or true digestive stomach, the hay 
food IS thus forced where it is not required, and an over 
supply ensues. Which is wasted, hay or meal, it is not 
worth while, in this connection, to inquire ; but one or 
the other, more likely a portion of both, are forced through 
the system with the excrements. 

Mr. Stewart, of the Live Stock Journal, has hit, in his 
late experiments and researches in meal feeding, upon 
the only safe expedient for feeding hay and meal in con- 
nection, which is to cut and steam the hay, and mix the 
meal with it. Adhering to the hay, it passes at once 
along with it into the first stomach, and in small quanti- 
ties through all of them, into the fourth. Thus the animal 
receives it m small quantities ; and if the mass is not, by 
the mixture, rendered too nutritious for its digestive 
capacity, no loss can ensue. This can be determined by 
a careful analysis of the manure, solid and liquid For 
the production of milk, this feeding might prove economi- 
cal. The hay being thereby rendered more palatable, 
the animal would certainly be inclined to eat liberally 
auc to remasticate thoroughly ; but I can conceive of no' 
additional value rendered to the meal itself, by its pas- 
sage through all the stomachs. 

It might also be practiced to advantage in fattening 
cattle. If the hay was simply wet, the result, as far as the 
passage of the meal is concerned, would be the same as if 
steamed. That there is economy in cutting and steaming 
hay IS self evident. It has been claimed by able men with- 
out being questioned, that -ineteei, -ponnds cut hav in 



27 

pieces two inches long, is equivalent to twenty-five pounds 
uncut hay. No nutriment is added by cutting ; but so 
much less work is to be done by the animal, which re- 
quires a certain amount of vital force to perform it. This 
vital force, when used, consumes a corresponding per 
cent, of the nutriment eaten. Therefore a less quantity 
of food suffices if the hay is cut. If it could, by mechani- 
cal means, be ground as fine as the stomachs of the 
animals grind it, the saving would be in proportion, and 
probably would not be less than fifty per cent. But the 
hay thus ground would pass directly to the fourth 
stomach, the same as meal. 

Why would not this ground hay be a natural food for 
the cow ? It would go just where the cow's Creator de- 
signed it should. 

Steaming is a step in the same direction, and in some 
respects its effects would be more advantageous : as, 
softening the woody fibre, dissolving the soluble parts,' 
and rendering true digestion more easy and thorough! 
A saving of thirty per cent, is claimed by this process.* 
As no nutriment can be added, the saving must be 
chiefly in mechanical force. These considerations lead 
us to the question of equivalents, in the matter of meal 
versus hay. A common sized animal consumes daily 
three quarts of the former, or twenty pounds of the 
latter. In the first the miller does the mechanical work ; 
in the latter the cow. The miller exacts a tenth toll for 
grinding your meal, but the cow is obliged to take more 
than one-half for the labor which she performs on your 
hay ! The constituents of meal and hay, when contrasted 
as equivalents, are liable to more or less error in results, 
from the fact that the composition of both vary, different 
kinds of corn yielding different quantities of any given 
constituents; some being much richer than others, especi- 
ally iri oil. -tnrc^, fi-d c^7-or; vch^U hoy also varies, accord- 




. 28 

ing to the soil upon which it is grown, the time of cutting, 
and the manner of curing; but we are able, nevertheless, 
to approximate results. 

One analysis by Dr. Salisbury, of Albany, of corn, gave 

as follows. 

Oluten 4.62 

Albumen 2.64 

Starch 4:1.85 

Oil 3.88 

Caseine l-^^ 

Dextrine 5.40 

Fibre 21.36 

Sugar and Extract 10.00 

Water 10-00 

Or, in other words, of nitrogenous or flesh forming 
substances about 13.00 

Of non-nitrogenous or fat producing substances 69.00 
This analysis is perhaps as favorable for arriving at an 
average of the true value of corn for feeding to animals, 
as any that can be found, except that the amount of 
woody fibre given is very large. A 

The result of an analysis of Timothy hay, which is 
quite as favorable as any I have been able to find, I give 
as follows : 

Water 14:.61 

riesh producing or nitrogenized sub- ||| j 

stances • • • ^.44 

Fat producing or non-nitrogenized 

substances 43.63 

Woody fibre 27.16 

Ash 6.15 

We find there spiratory elements, starch, sugar, etc., 
an excess of which goes to the production of fat in the 
animal in much larger quantity in the corn than hay. In 
considering the doctrine of equivalents in this case, we 
must look beyond these figures, and take into account the 
difference in the wants and absolute requirements of the 



29 

animal upon these different diets. In feeding meal the ani- 
mal has the three quarts of meal, when introduced to her 
stomach, to raise to the temperature of animal heat, and 
say two gallons cold water, per day. This is higher as to 
water than cattle on meal will average ; but I find myself 
in a situation to be generous in estimates. In feeding hay, 
twenty pounds per diem, and at least twelve gallons cold 
water, are to be raised to the temperature of animal heat, 
and kept there; and not only this, but her first stomach is 
filled with the food of several days, weighing from 200 
to 300 lbs., according to size of animal, which is also to be 
kept at the same temperature for the 24 hours, wholly at 
the expense of the 20 lbs. of hay, excepting what heat 
may be produced by the slight fermentation of the food 
in that receptacle. 

In feeding hay, she must use up from fifty to sixty per 
cent, of the nutritious elements in her food, to perform the 
labor of mastication, remastication, etc., carrying so much 
extra weight in her stomach, and supplying the extra 
heat. 

In feeding meal, the teeth and three first stomachs of 
the animal have perfect rest. 

In feeding hay, the teeth are in constant use upon tough 
woody fibre, at least three-fourths of the twenty-four 
hours, and of necessity wear out much faster than when 
used on tender grass as in the summer season, or when fed 
upon exclusive meal diet. The three stomachs, likewise, 
have a correspondingly tough job in performing their 
functions. 

But why weary your patience by pursuing this subject 
further ? 

Gentlemen, I have proved to you on paper, just as I 
have demonstrated by my practices, at various intervals 
for sixteen years, that three quarts of good Indian meal, 
fed under given conditions, are more than an equivalent 



30 

for all the good hay you can coax a cow to eat ! I am 
aware that the best known recognized authorities of the 
world are against me. Galileo's doctrines were not 
more radical to his contemporaries, than mine are to-day 
upon this subject ; nevertheless, he was right and they 
were wrong. Theories are sublime fallacies in the his- 
tory of our race. Guessing, and taking the most impor- 
tant things for granted, has been our bane throughout 
all the ages. But tests don't lie, and theories have to 
vanish before them. I quote here from " Milch Cows 
and Dairy Farming," by Charles L. Flint. 

"Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs 
not only depend on the condition of its food, but on its 
volume. The volume, or the bulk of the food, contributes 
to the healthy activity of the digestive organs, by exer- 
cismg a stimulative effect on the nerves which govern 
them. Thus the whole organization of ruminating an- 
imals necessitates the supply of bulky food to keep the 
animal in good condition." 

The idea is not original with Mr. Flint, who is excel- 
lent authority upon many of the subjects upon which he 
treats, but it has long been taught as an axiom by the 
very highest authorities. A greater faUacy could not 
easily be invented. Force an animal to grind up a great 
bulk of wood fibre, and carry it about with her, to stim- 
ulate the nerves of the digestive organs! Why, every 
motion she makes, outward or inward, is at an expense 
of vital force, which is generated by nutriment, not bulk ! 
Alas! poor ruminant ; you must chew all day, and you 
must chew all night, to stimulate the nerves of your d^ 
erestive organs! Nature cries out in vain for rest and 
recuperation! Your lord and master says, chew! chew 
to stimulate your nerves : Nature cries out for nutrition 
to stimulate your whole system ; but man, your lord, 
gives you woody fibre, bulk, work ! 



I 3' 

r Dairymen, give all the rest you can to your cow, all the 
:; year round. When she is in milk if you feed hay, cut 
and steam and mix a little meal with it if you can ; but 
give her quiet ; when you feed green grass in the sum- 
mer months, cut and carry her food to her in her stall if 
you can, if you want the greatest possible amount of 
milk from a given amount of food. If your pastures are 
short, feed her two quarts of meal in the morning, and 
let her stand in her stall until it is digested ; then turn 
her out. "When she is dry, save your hay for the milking 
season ; fasten her up in a warm, well ventilated stable, and 
keep her there ; give her from one to two quarts of meal 
(according to her size and richness of meal) at regular 
hours morning and evening, and a little salt, after the 
meal, once in two or three days. Carry her what water 
she will drink (which will be but little) ; curry her at least 
once a day. If she is in poor flesh give her a little extra 
oil meal at noon; do this and she will look a little gaunt 
and shrunk behind; but stand and look her in the face, 
which never deceives, and you will see a bright eye, with 
no hunger in it, and a placid, contented countenance ; 
and when you turn away she wiU not bawl after you, ask- 
ing in her dumb way for woody fibre, to grind through 
her system ; do this and she will give you a better return 
in milk, when you turn her out to grass, than the cow did 
before, wintered on hay. 

Plant more corn, feed more meal, and instead of dimin- 
ishing your herd gradually, as in the years that are 
passed away, you may, in the years to come, increase 
their number. 

A new and better era is dawning upon us. The days 
of famine prices for hay have already passed away, never 
to return. Let us hasten to learn lessons of wisdom from 
the errors of the past ; let us study the nature and wants 
of our animals, questioning all theories, demanding de- 



32 

monstration by tests that cannot deceive us ; let us acquire 
new and valuable skill in the manipulations of our milk 
products, in the manufacture of both butter and cheese ; 
let us educate our sons and daughters to make dairying 
what its importance demands — a science ; let us agitate 
for experimental stations or farms, which alone can lift 
agriculture, in all its branches, from its past low estate 
to the very front rank of all known sciences, where it 
rightly belongs. 

Finally, let us prove all things, holding fast only that 
which is good. 



ADDENDA. 



Containing Rules and Explanations, for the Practioai. 

Application of the Principles Involved in 

THE Foregoing Address. 

FOR AN EXCLUSIVE MEAL DIET. 

The stables should be warm and comfortable, securing 
protection from the rigors of winter. Light and air 
should be freely admitted when the temperature will 
permit ; sunlight should never be excluded from our 
animals, unless it involves the admission of cold winds. 
The platform upon which they stand should be dry, and 
if covered with refuse straw, or forest leaves, gathered 
for the purpose, it wiU add to their comfort, securing 
better results for the food consumed, and a valuable 
addition to the manure pile. Dairy cows should be first 

DRIED OFF. 

before they are restricted to the limited quantity of food 
recommended. If any of the herd are to be kept in 
milk, they should be placed by themselves, and out of 
sight of the others if practicable, and fed accordingly 
upon both hay and meal, or other coarse succulent food. 
If however coarse food is wanting, and milk is desired, 
the animals may all stand together as usual, and those 
in mUk fed according to directions given. 

OVER FEEDING 

is to be guarded against as indispensable to success. 
The mangers or troughs, in which the animals are to be 
fed, must be arranged so as to render it impossible for 



^34 

any of them to obtain, by overreaching, any part of the 
portion fed to their nearest neighbor. Feeding troughs 
are not a necessity in meal feeding. The mess may be 
eaten from the smooth floor, in front of the animal, 
or any convenient vessel, movable or otherwise ; but 
as some will eat faster than others, they will infringe 
upon their neighbors' rights, unless prevented by a par- 
tition which renders it impossible. The usual distance 
between the stanchions in the common American stable 
where hay is fed, is not sufficient, without partition or 
other effective barrier. The damage to the animal rob- 
bed of a portion of its daily ration, bears no propor- 
tion to the injury inflicted upon the trespasser. Scour- 
ing, which is most zealously to be guarded against, is 
sure to result if overreaching is practiced. 

THE MEAL 

must be ground as fine as possible. Scouring is liable, 
if it is fed coarse. The gastric juices perform their 
work upon fine meal readily ; and if the quantity fed at 
one time is not too large, not a particle can escape their 
action. If coarse meal is, from necessity, fed, it should 
be thoroughly cooked or steamed, which alone would , 
render it equal to fine. In case it was desired to lay on 1 
flesh or fat, either to improve general condition, or to * 
make beef, the quantity might be gradually increased, 
if cooked, with but little, if any, danger of relaxation of 
the bowels. The corn used [should be of the yellow 
variety, unless 

OIL CAKE OR COTTON SEED MEAL 

is added. There should be from three to four per cent, 
of oil in^good sound yellow corn (white corn although 
it may be rich in starch and sugar seldom contains even 
one per cent, of oil). This proportion of oil in their 
food should never, under any circumstances, be dimin- 



35 

ished, but may with safety be increased fifty per cent. ; 
and if beef is desired, the quantity may be doubled. 
The feeding should be at 

BEGTJLAB HOURS 

if possible. Habit governs the appetite and wants of 
the animal, to a much greater extent than is generally 
understood. Quiet, which is essential, if the best re- 
sults are desired from a given amount of food, can never 
be secured unless the hours of feeding are regular and 
uniform. Twice a day, not far from sunrise and sunset, 
with an average of about three pints to one feed, has 
been the author's rule ; but, if convenient, dividing the 
meal into three messes instead, might insure better di- 
gestion with some animals, and also obviate some of the 
dangers of relaxation. As a rule, the meal when fed to 
cows not in milk should be 

' DRY. 

The animal has an abundance of saliva, which is better 
than water to moisten it, and which otherwise will be 
partially wasted. This also insures a slower passage of 
the meal into the stomach. Any device, by which the 
time of eating could be lengthened, without diluting the 
food, would insure a more perfect digestion; but it should 
be understood that diluting food renders digestion more 
slow, difficult, and uncertain. The dryer the food, the 
longer will be the process of moistening it with the secre- 
tions of saliva. As these secretions are natural, the pre- 
sumption is, that their agency in preparing the food for 
the action of the gastric juices, and other acids employed 
in the different stages of digestion and assimilation, may 
be essential. As over-feeding is most rigidly to be guard- 
ed against, an 

EXACT MEASURE, 

holding three pints (if feeding is to be twice a day, or 



36 

one quart if three times) should be used, that no mis- 
takes may occur. It cannot be impressed too strongly 
upon the mind, that success in meal feeding depends 
more upon this one little item, than perhaps many 
others combined. The meal must be fed in small 
quantities. Kelaxation, which may prove difficult to 
control, is sure to follow if due heed is not paid to this 
point. For the same and other obvious reasons, the 
feeding should be done, if possible, by 

- THE SAME HAND 

from the beginning to the end ; and this should never, 
under any circumstances, be left to a careless or incom- 
petent person. The animals will require watching 
closely, and no one should have charge of them, unless 
he feels interested in carrying them through in the best 
possible condition. One ounce of prevention wiU be found 
of far greater value than a pound of cure, in feeding 
meal. 

THE CHANGE 

from coarse food to fine, had better be made at once, 
without any grad ations. It takes a number of days for the 
first stomach to become quite empty, and remastication 
of the coarse food previously eaten wiU continue more 
or less until this is accomplished. The meal fed goes at 
once to the fourth stomach, and if the quantity for the 
first two or three feedings is not small, an over supply 
ensues; at all events it is mixed with the coarse food 
previously eaten, until the supply runs out. For this 
reason the change cannot be made suddenly, if it was 
desired, and the feeder must use his judgment at first, 
rather than his measure. Besides, if the animal is un- 
accustomed to eating meal, three pints would be likely to 
produce satiety at first, even if it did not affect the 
bowels unfavorably. 



I 37 

The absence of the weight and bulk of the coarse 
food, and the necessary gradual cessation of rumination, 
involves more or less uneasiness, on the part of the ani- 
mal, for a few days. It is simply, however, the breaking 
up of an old habit, and the formation of a new one in 
its place ; and perfectly in accordance with nature, and 
the laws designed for the well-being of ruminants. The 
wonderful provision for the passage of fine food direct 
to the fourth stomach, is of itself a full and complete 
answer to any and every assertion and argument, that 
meal is an unnatural food ; or that its exclusive use in- 
volves any actual suffering whatever. The animals had 
better be kept in their stalls, and watered by hand, until 
they become quiet and contented. If accustomed to the 
change of diet, they accept the situation very quietly. 
The present winter (1875) a stranger daily visiting the 
stables of the writer, would scarcely have noticed any- 
thing unusual in the appearance of his herd, when the 
change of diet was being made, unless it was the natural 
shrinkage in bulk. This shrinkage soon becomes marked 
and prominent, and, to one unaccustomed to seeing 
animals in that condition, might cause him to regard 
them as wasted and poor, when in reality they were the 
reverse. The animal, relieved from carrying a large 
bulk of matter (amounting in an aggregate to from one- 
fourth to one-third of her live weight) and the by no 
means insignificant labor of remastication, soon learns 
to enjoy her new Kfe. . The old habit might incline her 
to seek bulky food, if she had the chance, but the better 
way is to keep such food out of her reach, compelling 
the formation of new habits in accordance with her 
changed condition. The same hand that feeds the 
meal should 

CLEAN THE STABLES, 

or at least examine the manure of each animal as often 



38 

as he feeds. This he should never neglect, until his 
animals have become accustomed to the new diet, and 
their discharges become natural, showing regularity and 
perfect digestion. Upon his care and discrimination in 
this matter will depend his success in meal feeding. 
The manure dropped for the first few days wiU vary 
more or less, being composed, in part, of the contents of 
the coarse food previously stored in the rouen. If any 
tendency to relaxation is shown, scald the meal, or lessen 
the amount fed. When the old food has been evacuated 
some animals will go one, two, and even three days 
without dropping any manure whatever. This is no 
cause for alarm, but is an indication, if the appetite is 
good, that the ration of meal may with safety be slightly 
increased. If however the appetite is poor, and a re- 
luctance is shown to eating, try if scalding the meal will 
not better meet the requirements of the animal's taste. 
No harm will ensue if the ration is withheld for one or 
two feedings, or even more. It is always safe to under- 
feed, but never to overfeed. In nine cases out of ten, 
they will resume eating their rations when they get ready, 
and appear to be better for the season of fasting. If, 
however, the case is obstinate, a tablespoonful of cop- 
peras may be dissolved, and poured down the throat. A 
marked difference will be observed in the appetites of a 
herd of cows for this diet, which generally, but not 
always, conform to their 

DIGESTIVE capacity; 

that is, those that eat meal with the greatest avidity, 
are generally able to digest their rations thoroughly. 
Again, as a rule the best milkers will be found to be the 
greatest eaters, but in this there are exceptions. The an- 
imals being dry, the mammary glands are at rest, unless, 
indeed, they have the power to lay up stores of fat, to 



39 

be used afterwards in the production of rich milk. The 
animal having become accustomed to a meal diet, which 
will be shown by the regularity of its daily evacuations, 
it becomes important to learn its actual digestive ca-. 
pacity, which may always be done, by closely watching 
the manure dropped, and conforming the amount of the 
ration to its distinctive characteristics. When, as will 
frequently be the case in a herd of cows thus fed, the 
manure assumes a whitish mealy appearance, and is soft 
and watery, the rations are too large, and should be 
gradually shortened until the desired condition of the 
droppings is reached, which should be about three (3) 
evacuations daily, of the color and consistency of ordinary 
winter manure. If 

COSTIVENESS 

- ensues upon the feeding of a given ration to an ani- 
mal, the manure wiU be rarely dropped, and always hard, 
dark colored, and expelled in small round balls. In such 
cases the amount of the ration should be gradually in- 
creased, until the desired regularity and consistency is 
reached. This condition however is sometimes occa- 
sioned by want of exercise, and care should be used in in- 
creasing the ration of meal. One half hour each day, 
when it is ordinary winter weather, for drinking and out- 
door exercise, will obviate costiveness from sedentary 
habits. If the animal can be thoroughly curried daily, 
and watered in the stable, the effect of the food eaten 
will be much more satisfactory than if allowed to run 
out in the cold for a longer period. In case, from any 
cause whatever, 

SCOUKING 

actually sets in, the ration should be withheld, or the 
meal thoroughly cooked : and this should be persisted in 
until the bowels become regular. If the case is obstinate. 



feeding scalded milk is one of the safest remedies known 
Thejmce of hemlock bark boiled until strong, or of the 
root of the common sumac,is sometimes used with success 
The animal loses flesh very fast when in this condition • 
and no pams should be spared, either to save her from 
getting into it, or curing her at once, when unfortunately 
m Some cows will digest much more meal than others 
of the same size, and a ration that would cause costiveness 
m the one, might prove the occasion of scouring i^ 
the other ; but such are extreme cases, and rarely occur* 
A perfectly safe remedy when an animal is found incapa 
Die of eatmg, without scouring, is to 




SCALD THE MEAL, 

and persist in the practice, increasing the quantity umii 
her wants are fuUy satisfied, and improvement in condi- . , 
tion IS manifest He who feeds meal intelligently, will! 
soon learn, that each of his animals has a capacity of her'! 
own for the digestion of her food, which is irrespective 
of size, weight, or general condition as to flesh ; and to 
this he must conform ; and he will find the amount re- 
quired to meet their wants can be determined by no 
fixed rule, but is learned by close observation. Diges- 
tion, and the assimHation of the elements of food are 
mysteries which science has never as yet been able to 
mifold. Unseen and invisible agencies silently work out 
their mission, under the fixed and uniform laws of na- 
ture, withm all living beings. If we knew aU the myste- 
ries of digestion, it would enable us almost to bafiie death 
itse f, in the human family, prolonging our lives beyond 
the limits of the patriarchal age ; and empower us to make 
greater improvements in our domestic animals than the 
wildest visionaries {generally falsely so called) have ever 
dared to predict. Science is graduaUy but surely work- 
ing out the great problem. Professor L. B. Arnold who 



4» 

needs no eulogy from me, for all his writings and works 
praise Mm, under date of February 4, 1875, writes me as 

follows : ... J! ^•^■^■^a 

"Analysis of the various digestive juices is of little 
account. The recent investigations in the physiology o± 
digestion, in which I have taken an active part show 
that aU the changes involved in digestion are of a ter- 
mentative character ; i. e., they are carried on by the 
action of ferments, and chemists in analyzing the jmce 
invariably kiU the ferment, and thus put out of sight the 
very thing they are looking for. 

" It has recently been proved, that saliva acts as a yeast, 
and multiplies its power the same as any other leaven. 
I have fully demonstrated, that gastnc juice 
acts also as a yeast, and that the ferment may be mi^ti- 
plied and carried from day to day, as a housewife contm- 
ues her yeast : and have also done the same with sections 
of the intestines and bladder. The efficacy of the pan- 
creatic juice lies also in a ferment, ^^^^ P«™;*/Yw ^ 
capable of being extended from batch to batch ; that is 
to say, a certain quantity of pancreatic juice is capable, m 
a given time, of converting a given amount of starch 
into sugar ; and after having done this (all it was capa- 
ble of doing in a given time), it can then be used again to 
convert another portion of starch into sugar m an equal 

length of time." . . _ , 

This Hmit to the capacity of the digestive organs and 
agencies should always be borne in mind, in feeding 

Concentrated food ; which passes at once m a mass into 
the fourth stomach, and immediately becomes subject to 
the action of the various digestive juices and secretions 
In the remastication of coarse food, nature provides a 
feeder, which is never at fault in this respect at least, 
for th; food passes in small quantities, under the acfaon 

;of the digestfve juices : coarse food also hes m the first 



42 

stomach or rouenfor days, before it is remasticated ; and 
without doubt, becomes partially fermented prior to its 
passage into the region of the digestive secretions ; but 
no such fermentation can take place with the meal, and 
the quantity fed at one time must be smaU if waste is to 
be avoided. 

IN FEEDINa FOE FATTENING M 

this should be borne in mind. The large quantities o' 
concentrated food usually fed must of necessity be in a 
great measure lost. Not over two quarts of such food 
should ever be given at one time, and three feedings in 
twenty-four hours, if coarse food is given also, would cer- 
tainly be the full extent of almost any animal's digestive 
capacity. It is impossible, if coarse food is given liber- 
ally, to prevent a waste of meal unless the quantity is 
small. In wintering 

YOUNG STOCK CALVES, ETC., 

it is a question to be determined by long experience, 
whether an exclusive meal diet would be advantageous 
to the full development of the three first stomachs of the 
animal. Ordinarily, if any organ is not in use, it ceases 
to develop and grow, and it may be found that young 
stock, which have not arrived at maturity, will have small 
and defective stomachs, as far as capacity to hold a large 
quantity of coarse food is concerned, if fed for any con- 
siderable length of time on clear meal. A portion of 
meal daily, and a ration of coarse food, would seem to be 
safer; but actual tests are better than theories. In 
changing 

FROM MEAL TO HAY, 

which should always be done if possible with dairy cows, 
when they commence making bag, it is desirable to do it 
gradually. The conditions are reversed from what they 



r 



43 



were in the stomachs of the animal, when the change was 
made from hay to meal. Then the rouen was full, but 
now it is empty. It has been the experience of the 
writer, that animals once accustomed to meal diet, greatly 
prefer it ; at any rate they generally refuse coarse food 
at first, and the very best of fresh hay has little power to 
' tempt the appetite. It takes days, more or less (accord- 
ing to size and appetite of the animal), to fill the first 
stomach so that she will commence remastication. Unless 
a portion of meal was fed during this period, hunger and 
suflfering must of necessity ensue, for there is positively 
no digestion and assimilation of the food while it is in 
the first stomach and previous to the resumption of 
remastication. Wetting the hay with a little brine, or 
steaming it, might tempt the appetite of the animal to 
i resume the discarded habit of going to work upon coarse 
rfood. Care should also be taken to feed all the salt that 
' an animal will eat with relish, while this change is going 
on, and this should always be done summer and winter. 
If she is fed daily with a portion of meal, that will be 
evacuated as before the change; but no hay manure can 
be dropped until after rumination has been begun, and 
the food has had time to pass through all its accustomed 
stages. When the cow drops her calf, if, as is sometimes 
the case, hay or coarse food cannot be obtained, the ani- 
mal can be kept entirely upon meal, even while giving 
imilk; but it is to be justified alone upon the plea of 
f necessity, and practiced with caution. Generous feeding 
of all the nutritious and succulent food which iphe can be 
, induced to eat, should be the rule, after three or four 
< days from pasturition. It will be found that she will 
I bear from five to six quarts meal daily under her changed 
conditions, without causing scouring, and it may be even 
more ; but it might be advisable to wet or scald it. The 
mammary glands, which were dormant before, now act 



44 

with renewed force and activity ; this activity gradually 
diminishes as the months roll on. The flow of milk will 
not be large upon clear meal, but its quality will be ex- 
cellent; and if made into butter, the amount from a given 
quantity will be satisfactory. It has been the invariable 
experience of the author, that cows wintered in this man- 
ner yield a larger 

FLOW OF MILK 

when turned out to grass, than when wintered in the 
usual manner upon hay and ordinary coarse food. Thei 
reasons for this result he does not venture to give, as 
they would be only his opinions founded upon theory, 
but the fact is indisputable. Another sequence he has 
noticed, which is a remarkable tendency 

TO LAY ON FLESH. 

This is so marked, that the past season some of his] 
cows, giving a good flow of mUk, have been fit for th€ 
butcher as early as the month of August ; a circumstancei| 
which he certainly never knew to occur with cows ir 
milk, which were wintered on hay. The dairyman not I 
unfrequently has in his herd cows that have an exceptional 
value, either as great milkers, or as giving milk of 
peculiar richness and color, and which are very valuable 
in giving tone and color to his whole dairy product. Thef 
usefulness of such cows 

CAN BE PEOLONGED, 

even after their teeth begin to fail, by feeding more meal 
during the winter months and less coarse food. Hay, 
corn fodder, and aU kinds of straw, no matter how early 
cut, or how carefully cured, has a coating of hard woody 
fibre, requiring good teeth for mastication and remastica- 
tion. If such food is given to an animal with poor teeth, 
it will be found impossible for her to thrive, and lay on 



r 



45 



flesh ; but if thoroughly steamed and cooked, the case is 
different; it being by the process rendered fully equal m 
digestibility to the young and tender grasses of the 
pasture. But, where steaming is impracticable, Indiaii 
meal (cooking will not hurt it), oatmeal, bran, brewers 
grains, linseed oH cake,or cotton seed meal, fed m suitable 
combinations in suitable quantities, may take the place 
of all coarse food ; and the animal kept much longer than 
is possible on hay and the usual treatment. Such ani- 
mals should have meal aU the year round. A yast amount 
of food is lost, except as manure, every winter, by 

OVEE FEEDING 

for the production of milk, to supply our viUages, large 
towns, and cities, throughout the country. Milkm tne 
winter, and early beef in the spring, always command a 
high price, and springers and farrow cows, are bought 
up in the fall, and fed with this double object in view. 
As a rule, this class of feeders lose sight of the great fact, 
that there is a limit to the digestive capacity of their 
auimals ; and in their eagerness to produce both- milk 
and beef at the same time, overcrowd the fourth stomach 
and intestines with a larger amount of nutrition than 
can possibly be assimilated within a given time. If fine 
food, like coarse, went into the first stomach, the loss 
would be less, for it would have to pass, in small quanti- 
ties through the whole process of digestion. If the ani- 
mal is given all the coarse food it will eat, and that of a 
very nutritious quality, remastication wiU nearly furnish 
aU the material that the digestive organs and juices can 
handle, the system being clogged with a large amount of 
worthless matter which has to be expelled. Adding to 
this from four to six and even eight quarts of rich Indian 
meal at a single feed, to go at once into the fourth 
stomach and intestines in one mass, not only insures a 



% 



4^ 

great waste in material, but has a tendency to surfeit" 
sicken m some cases, the animal. Less coarse food and 
much ess fine, the latter to be given at intervals as far as 
possible between the feedings of the coarse, will be found 
to produce more milk and beef, and of a better quality 
^an can possibly be obtained by the crowding proeels'. 
Whenever, and wherever, there is much scouring^ there 
will be great loss Whenever meal of any kind, or any 
kmd of food which from its nature and condition passes 
direct xnto the fourth stomach, is fed, it is all important 
that It should be as pine as possible. If fed drv it i^ 
moistened with saliva and passed in smaller quantities 
into the stomach than if fed wet; but if scalded or 
cooked, and allowed to stand until fermentation begins 
digestion will be therebv assisted. 

For the production ot" rich milk and butter of superior 
quahty, Indian meal is invaluable to the dairyman • but 
when he IS enabled by its use, to laugh at the calamity of 
short and defective hay crops, and to use it as a substitute , 
for coarse food under all contingencies, the chief uncer-H 
tamties and discouragements of his business are over- 
come; for corn is the most certain crop of our country 
and seldom fails. Judicious feeding of dairy stock, both 
while dxy and in milk, as well as for the production of 
beef w,ll, when practiced, greatly enhance its value. 

Ihat tliese pages may contribute to such a result is the 
earnest wish of the author. 

Since writing the above, letters of inquiry^have been 
received from various parties in different sections of the 
United States, asking for information upon some points 
not treated distinctly under the foregoing heads, which 
1 herewith answer to the best of my ability. 

THE SENSATION OF HUNGEK 

cannot avise from the absence of coarse bulky food in the 



47 

first stomach. It is only nature crying out for nutrition. 
Whenever the organs and agencies of digestion, in the 
fourth stomach, bowels, etc., have exhausted the elemen- 
tary constituents of the food last eaten, by carrying them 
to such parts of the body as are in want, if there is any 
deficiency in the supplies, a craving arises for more, and 
this is hunger. The distension of the first, second, and 
: third stomachs and their use and activity are only requi- 
site when coarse food is eaten, and are not required when 
meal is fed. There is no danger in the 

HEATING PKOPERTIES OF MEAL, 

fed as an exclusive diet, in the small quantities recom- 
!> mended. If fed in larger quantities, and by being mixed 
with cut and steamed food, forced, against nature, into 
the first stomach, instead of the fourth, where it belongs, 
overheating would be liable to arise, as the food, once 
taken in these, must lay for days, and take its turn in 
passing out. The "very httle" water drunk, when on an 
exclusive meal diet, demonstrates, that there is no un- 
natural or dangerous heat generated. I am asked by 
"one almost persuaded," if it would not be better to feed 
three or four pounds of 

HAY 

along with the meal, even if the quantity of meal was 
reduced ? Possibly it might be, but I think not, and I 
give my reasons as follows : A small quantity of hay, or 
any other coarse food, which forces its way into the first 
and through all the stomachs, would only keep up the 
old habits, which it is desirable to break off. There 
might not be any loss of food, if this small quantity was 
given in connection with a small amount of meal, but 
there would be a great loss of (luiet; and thus a larger 
amount of food would be required, to keep the animal in 
a P^ven conr^it^'or, ^c, to flesh. Another asks, if it would 



48 

not be better to cut and steam five pounds of hay, mix- 
ing the meal with it, and 

FEEDING THE MIXTURE TOGETHER? ^^H 

To which I reply : I can only theorize, never having 
tested it ; but my judgment would tell me, that if large 
quantities of hay and meal were to be fed, for the pur- 
pose of getting a large flow of milk, or of fattening an 
animal, or both, this might be advantageous. Mr. Stew- 
art, of the Buffalo Live Stock Journal, is a good authority 
upon this practice. But if light quantities are to be 
used, I should certainly prefer clear meal. The feeding 
of meal alone is just as ■ 

NATURAL " 

as feeding hay or other coarse food alone. Both go 
where nature designed they should. It would seem 
almost impossible that meal, when swallowed, should 
pass by the large opening, or passage, into the third 
stomach. But as it is not required there for any purpose 
whatever, the animal has the power (which must be in- 
voluntary) given it of contracting that opening, and 
forcing the meal past into the fourth or true digestive 
stomach, for which it is prepared in grinding by the 
miller. How then can it be an unnatural food ? 



II 



FEEDING ME4L ALONE 

is just as safe as feeding coarse food alone, if proper 
care is taken to observe the rules laid down in this 
work. 

It is the author's intention to continue his experiments 
in meal feeding, collecting and publishing all possible 
reliable information and data upon the subject ; making 
a work that shall grow in future editions into a larger 
volume; and which shall be an invaluable text book to 
all who feed ruminants. Any information of results 
from those who follow this practice wiU be gratefully 
received and duly credited. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



000 894 306 9 



DESIGN" OF CREATION. 

The author, after years of thought and investigation on the 
^oBject of the "Creation," has issued a pamphlet, with the above 
title, containing his views and the conclusions derived from those 
investigations. 

PRICE TWENTY CENTS. 



CAUTION. 

Persons' prdering either -hould give their names :\u> 

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